Whipping up White House kitchen intrigue

Julia Keller

Politics is all about labels: Democrat, Republican or independent. Right, left or center. Conservative or liberal.

For the characters in a Julie Hyzy novel, though, there's only one label that really matters: the one on the box, can or bottle. Because in her mystery series featuring White House chef Olivia Paras, a scrumptious and nutritious meal trumps all else. A piece of pie matters more than a piece of legislation. And the phrase "sound bite" means just that: a satisfying nibble from a new dish, not a quotable snippet from a news conference.

"I love writing about Ollie. She feels like one of my best friends," says Hyzy.

Her fourth White House Chef mystery, "Buffalo West Wing," will be published next week by Berkley. Like its predecessors, "State of the Onion" (2008), "Hail to the Chef" (2008) and "Eggsecutive Orders" (2008), "Buffalo West Wing" is a breezy, lighthearted whodunit featuring feisty professional chef Paras, who relishes the pressure-cooker environment of the White House kitchen. Feeding the first family and whipping up state dinners is her dream job — except for the pesky fact that dead bodies keep popping up like whole-wheat slices from a toaster.

For Hyzy, who lives in southwest suburban Tinley Park, the series is the realization of her own dream. "It took a long time to get here," she says.

Growing up in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, Hyzy dearly wanted to be a writer. "Writing was something I always did, from the time I was really young," she recalls. But practical-minded friends and family members discouraged her. "When I told people what I wanted to do, they said, 'Oh, you'll starve.' So I was a business major at Loyola.

"I was never able to make writing a priority in my life until my kids were grown."

She and her husband, Curt Hyzy, are the parents of three girls, ages 24, 21 and 18.

After former first lady Laura Bush hired the first female executive chef in White House history, a publisher deemed it a promising premise for a mystery series. Hyzy wrote sample chapters and was selected to write the series.

"It was a great hook," she says. She enjoyed the research that ended up filling the series with authentic details about food service at the presidential level, Hyzy adds, but she is careful not to get too specific about real-life first families.

"I stay out of politics," she declares. And though there are a few hints in "Buffalo West Wing"— incoming President Parker Hyden, a "junior senator from a Midwestern state," is "young and handsome" — her characters are strictly fictional, Hyzy insists.

"I try to make it current and interesting, but I don't say what party the president belongs to or anything like that. But I will never have the president be a bad guy. I believe every one of our presidents does the best job he can."

Like any good chef, Hyzy is used to multitasking. Along with the White House Chef series, she also writes a mystery series called Manor House, featuring the crime-solving curator of a historic home. Hyzy, moreover, is a regular contributor to two blogs — mysteryloverskitchen.com and killercharacters.com — that offer writing tips and recipes.

She's thrilled to be fulfilling, at long last, her desire to write novels.

"I finally just thought, 'I'm going to do this now or I'll get to be 100 years old and regret I never tried.'"